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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

More lights in the sky

Intrigue persists over lights in sky

For first time, military pilot tells of dropping flares; others say 'PhoenixLights' were UFOs

Scott CravenThe Arizona RepublicFeb. 25, 2007 12:00 AM

On a mild springlike evening the string of amber orbs appeared as if bymagic, a celestial sleight of hand that would in the coming weeks makeheadlines and video highlights across the nation.

Although little more than an atmospheric curiosity at the time, the hoveringand evenly spaced balls of light would soon become known as the PhoenixLights, an event that 10 years later continues to spark debate over justwhat was seen that night.

Those who accepted the explanation that it was military flares dismissed thecontroversy with logical precision, while people who saw it as anotherworldly encounter claim the truth has been shrouded in lies anddisinformation. In the ensuing decade, the Phoenix Lights would change outlooks, minds andeven a few lives. What hasn't changed is this: The mystery that still hoversabove March 13, 1997.

The key witness

What she was seeing had barely registered when Lynne Kitei raced inside tofetch her video camera. Lights, six of them, evenly spaced in a direct line.They were - floating? - over Phoenix. Certainly not a plane. Or balloons.

She had seen something like this before, but could these be like the amberorbs she saw in 1995 hovering in formation just 100 yards from the backyardof her Paradise Valley home? And she had seen orbs like that just two monthsago. In each case she had snapped photos. This time she wanted video.

By the time she was back on her patio, only three lights continued to shine.She pressed "Record," and those several seconds of tape would become one ofthe seminal recordings of the Phoenix Lights to be shown on the news, TVspecials and, several years later, her own documentary.

In the decade since that night Kitei, a respected physician, has resignedfrom her position at the Arizona Heart Institute to devote herself full timeto talk about, and further investigate, the Phoenix Lights.

"If you had told me this is what I'd be doing," she says, "I would neverhave believed it, not in a million years."

For seven years she spent nearly all her spare time trying to answer thequestion that plagued her: What were those orbs, and what did they want? Shefinished with 750 pages of notes detailing her interviews with witnesses,experts and UFO investigators. Her notes included extensive research ofsimilar sightings around the world.

Kitei remained anonymous for seven years, fearful of the ridicule thataccompanies those seen to be tilting at extraterrestrial windmills.

But her chase for the truth eventually overcame her fears of going public.She condensed her notes into a 222-page book, The Phoenix Lights, where sherevealed her findings as well as her name.

What she has not found is a definitive answer, only educated speculation asto the meaning of the lights.

"It's never been about me; it's about the data," Kitei says. "To present itI had to come forward, to tell people what I know."

Kitei also has discovered something nearly as surprising as interplanetaryvisitors - a wider acceptance of things that can't quite be explained. Shesaid she still receives e-mails from fans of her book and her documentary,The Phoenix Lights . . . We Are Not Alone.

She takes no offense at those who call her efforts a waste of time.

"Some people deny it even exists, that it all feeds into a logicalexplanation," she says. "That's OK if it gives them comfort. Everyone intheir own time."

The lights appear

It is generally agreed that at about 10 p.m. on March 13, 1997, under aclear sky with no breeze, a string of lights appeared to the southwest. Theorbs seemed to form a flattened V shape, like a boomerang. They appeared tobe motionless, or traveling so slowly that movement was imperceptible.

They shimmered for five to 10 minutes and were seen by hundreds, and likelythousands, of people.

In the days to come, air traffic controllers at Sky Harbor InternationalAirport would tell reporters and UFO investigators that they spotted nothingon radar. Officials at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson would reportthat no military maneuvers were taking place that night at the Barry M.Goldwater Range to the west of Gila Bend (and would change their story twomonths later, saying the person on duty that night failed to look at theproper logbook).

Photos and video of the Phoenix Lights were popping up on local and nationalTV news. The images made their way around the world.

Then things got crazy.

Stories trickled in of isolated sightings from northwestern Arizona aboutthree hours before the mass sighting in Phoenix. Some people said the lightsseemed to float before accelerating and disappearing into the night. Fromthose sightings, experts in the UFO community assembled a timeline that hada mysterious craft drifting north to south across Arizona.

Video of the Phoenix Lights appeared on TV tabloid shows with breathlesscommentators wondering if this was the proof UFO believers had been waitingfor. And when Gov. Fife Symington called a press conference, few expected tosee the extraterrestrial who emerged from backstage (a Symington aide inalien drag).

At least one person wasn't laughing.

Frances Emma Barwood never saw the lights as she drove home March 13 northalong Highway 51. Her eyes were on the road, not the sky, though in a week'stime she'd be eye-deep in controversy.

As the Phoenix city councilwoman fielded calls from curious constituents,she decided she needed to know more.

She called for an investigation.

What she got, Barwood says from her home in Dewey, was ridicule.

"Oh, the media had a heyday with me," says Barwood, who would never holdanother political office when her City Council stint was up.

Barwood did not assume the lights were UFOs as the media inferred, she says.She only wanted a government agency to look into the odd occurrences ofMarch 13. She received calls from eyewitnesses in Prescott Valley, Phoenixand points south.

A decade ago, Barwood would have leaned toward a logical explanation. Today,she's open to the not-so-logical.

"I don't know what it was, but I'm a lot more open to that thing coming fromelsewhere," Barwood says. "What makes us think we're the only intelligentbeing in the whole entire universe?"

The flares exposed

Those who believed in logical explanations would have to wait four monthsfor the proof they knew was out there when the military, spurred by a June1997 story in USA Today that brought national attention to the PhoenixLights, decided to take a second look.

They were flares, said the Air National Guard, dropped during nighttimeexercises at the Barry M. Goldwater Range.

That simple explanation didn't fly with those who had four months of mysteryon their side.

They were flares, insists Lt. Col. Ed Jones, who piloted one of the fourA-10s in the squadron that launched the flares.

Jones, in his first interview with the media about the night 10 years ago,can't believe a decision to eject a few leftover flares turned into a UFOfuror that continues to this day.

Jones now is assistant director of operations for the 104th Fighter Squadronof the Maryland National Guard. His title has changed, but his story remainsthe same.

He and the rest of his colleagues were cruising the night skies ofsouthwestern Arizona on the last night of Operation Snowbird, so namedbecause they were winter visitors. Pilots dropped flares to light the nightbut had no idea they were about to ignite controversy as well.

On the way back to Tucson, not far from Gila Bend, Jones says, he remindedpilots to eject their leftover flares. Since this was their last night onmaneuvers, it was more cost-effective to eject the flares than to offloadand store the munitions upon returning.

"One of our guys had about 10 or so left, so he started to puke them out,one after another," Jones says. "So every few seconds or so, when the nextflare was ready to go, he hit the button and launched it."

Jones looked behind him and saw an evenly spaced string of lights over thedesert, floating ever so slowly to earth. Each was extremely bright, a"couple million" candle power, Jones knew. They seemed to hover because heatfrom the flare rose into the parachute, as if each were a tiny hot-airballoon. The planes headed for the base.

Jones and the rest of the crew returned to Maryland. Several weeks later,Jones says, "All this stuff just blew up."

News of the unexplainable Phoenix Lights reached Maryland, where the logicalexplanation sat waiting to be discovered. It would not be until the end ofJuly when it was announced that the Maryland Air National Guard had launchedflares that night and were the lights everyone had seen.

"With flares that bright, they can be a lot closer than they seem," Jonessaid. "Yes, they could have looked like they were right over Phoenix."

There are those who believe the flare story is a lie, the military's attemptto cover up the truth. Others think flares were indeed dropped but only as adiversion so officials could explain what people saw that night.

Jim Dilletoso belongs in the first camp. The Phoenix computer specialist whohas analyzed film and video of dozens of alleged UFO sightings says LynneKitei's video, the best taken that night, is not of military flares.

Dilletoso compared the lights to the thousands of images on his database,which he likens to testing fingerprints or blood samples. He tests for size,brightness, movement characteristics and more.

A decade has passed, and while the Phoenix Lights have dimmed, they refuseto disappear.

Steve Kates is not surprised. Dr. Sky, as he is known on radio and on hisWeb site, follows aviation and astronomy and often is called upon to explainunusual occurrences above us. Kates is hardly surprised the mystery of thePhoenix Lights endures today.

"Mystery is a great thing," Kates says. "We don't want to think we're alone.I imagine even ancient people looked to the sky and wondered."

The night had a profound effect on Bobby Brewer, who was with a frienddriving southbound on Highway 51when the lights appeared.

Brewer would write UFOs: 7 Things You Should Know, which many may considerunusual coming from a pastor.

The experience led Brewer to respect those who have reported sightings,encounters or even abductions.

The lights were so compelling that night, he pulled off the highway tostare.

"It was like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time," says the pastorfor young adults and singles at Citichurch in Scottsdale. "It took my breathaway."

Brewer did his own research, yet to this day he is still unsure of what hesaw. Flares certainly seem plausible. A high-tech craft pushing the edge ofphysics is in the realm of possibility. And he won't discount a visit fromanother world.

For Brewer, the Phoenix Lights remain a tantalizing mystery. He can livewith that

About Me

A 39 year old man of the people.
Or is that short fat bloke with glasses.
Have been a balloon pilot since 1989 and have just a little over 2k hours in all sorts of things.
Have been very frightened during about 200 of those hours.